Senior Security Engineer (Detection & Response)

Scribd, Inc. is on a mission to advance human understanding. Our four products — Scribd, Slideshare, Everand, and Fable — help billions of people across the globe move beyond access and into insight, application, and expertise.

Culture at Scribd, Inc.

We support a culture where our employees can be real and be bold; where we debate and commit as we embrace plot twists; and where every employee is empowered to take action as we prioritize the customer.

We believe the best work happens when individual flexibility is balanced with meaningful community connection. Scribd Flex empowers employees to choose the workstyle and location that support their best performance, while committing to intentional in-person moments that strengthen collaboration and culture. Occasional in-person attendance is required for all Scribd, Inc. employees, regardless of location.

So what are we looking for in new team members? At Scribd, Inc., we hire for “GRIT.” Traditionally defined as the intersection of passion and perseverance toward long-term goals, GRIT reflects the mindset we expect from every employee. For us, it also serves as a practical framework for how we work: setting and achieving Goals, delivering Results within your role, contributing Innovative ideas and solutions, and strengthening the broader Team through collaboration and attitude.

This posting reflects an approved, open position within the organization.

About the team and role

The Infrastructure Security team at Scribd is responsible for protecting our applications, platforms, and users through proactive, engineering-led security practices. As Scribd continues to scale, we are evolving our Detection & Response capabilities from reactive alerting toward a time-based security model - where speed, signal quality, and resilience are first-class design goals.

As a Senior Security Engineer focused on Detection & Response, you will help shape Scribd’s long-term detection and response capabilities while owning execution within a defined domain. You’ll work closely with application, infrastructure, and IT security teams - as well as our managed detection and response (MDR) partner - to design high-fidelity telemetry, operationalize our SIEM, and continuously reduce mean time to detect and respond (MTTD/MTTR).

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys building durable security systems, translating incidents into engineering improvements, and gradually expanding ownership through demonstrated impact.

What you’ll do when you join:

Design and operationalize detection capabilities

• Own and evolve detection coverage across applications, APIs, cloud infrastructure, identity, and bot/abuse surfaces
• Translate threat models and real incidents into high-confidence detection patterns
• Partner with engineers to instrument high-quality, security-relevant telemetry at the application and platform layers

Operationalize and mature the SIEM

• Lead enrichment, normalization, and correlation of logs into actionable security signals
• Define detection standards and patterns to reduce noise and improve signal quality
• Ensure telemetry supports both internal investigations and MDR-led monitoring

Improve response speed and quality

• Reduce MTTD and MTTR through improved triage, automation, and contextual alerting
• Build and maintain runbooks, response workflows, and post-incident learning loops
• Partner with IT Security and the MDR provider to continuously improve detection and response outcomes

Advance runtime and behavior-based protections

• Help design and deploy runtime detection and protection techniques (RASP-like approaches), especially for modern interfaces such as GraphQL
• Support bot detection, abuse prevention, and DDoS mitigation in collaboration with application and platform teams
• Leverage deception techniques (e.g., honeypots, canaries) to detect and learn from adversary behavior

Define and track meaningful metrics

• Implement and track detection and response KPIs (e.g., coverage, signal quality, MTTD/MTTR)
• Use metrics to guide prioritization and measure improvement over time
• Align measurements with frameworks such as Time-Based Security and NIST CSF

Validate and improve continuously

• Participate in purple-team exercises, tabletop simulations, and incident retrospectives
• Ensure detection, response, and protection capabilities work cohesively within targeted timeframes

We’re looking for someone who has

• 4+ years of experience in security engineering, detection engineering, incident response, or an equivalent blend of software and security engineering
• Hands-on experience designing or operating detection and response systems (not just responding to alerts)
• Strong understanding of logging, telemetry, and signal design in modern cloud and application environments
• Experience with SIEM technologies such as Splunk, Elasticsearch, Datadog, Chronicle, or similar platforms
• Experience partnering with or operating alongside an MDR or SOC provider
• Familiarity with threat detection and response frameworks (e.g., MITRE ATT&CK, Time-Based Security, NIST CSF)
• Ability to write quality code or tooling in at least one backend language (preferably Python, Ruby, or Go)
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to influence engineers without formal authority

Nice to have

• Experience with bot detection, abuse prevention, or DDoS mitigation
• Experience instrumenting or protecting GraphQL APIs
• Cloud security experience (AWS preferred)
• Infrastructure-as-Code experience (Terraform, CloudFormation)
• Experience building automation for alerting, triage, or response workflows
• Exposure to purple-team or adversary simulation exercises

At Scribd, Inc., your base pay is one part of your total compensation package and is determined within a range. Our pay ranges are based on the local cost of labor benchmarks for each specific role, level, and geographic location. San Francisco is our highest geographic market in the United States.

In the state of California, the reasonably expected salary range is between $144,500 [minimum salary in our lowest geographic market within California] to $225,500 [maximum salary in our highest geographic market within California].

In the United States, outside of California, the reasonably expected salary range is between $119,000 [minimum salary in our lowest US geographic market outside of California] to $214,000 [maximum salary in our highest US geographic market outside of California].

In Canada, the reasonably expected salary range is between $151,000 CAD[minimum salary in our lowest geographic market] to $193,000 CAD[maximum salary in our highest geographic market].

We carefully consider a wide range of factors when determining compensation, including but not limited to experience; job-related skill sets; relevant education or training; and other business and organizational needs. The salary range listed is for the level at which this job has been scoped. In the event that you are considered for a different level, a higher or lower pay range would apply. This position is also eligible for a competitive equity ownership, and a comprehensive and generous benefits package.

Working at Scribd, Inc.

Are you currently based in a location where Scribd, Inc. can employ you?

Employees must have their primary residence in or near one of the following cities. This includes surrounding metro areas or locations within a typical commuting distance:

United States:

Atlanta | Austin | Boston | Dallas | Denver | Chicago | Houston | Jacksonville | Los Angeles | Miami | New York City | Phoenix | Portland | Sacramento | Salt Lake City | San Diego | San Francisco | Seattle | Washington D.C.

Canada:

Ottawa | Toronto | Vancouver

Mexico:

Mexico City

Benefits at Scribd, Inc.

• Scribd Flex (flexible work model)
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
• Mental health support and disability coverage
• Generous paid time off, including vacation, sick time, holidays, winter break, volunteer time, and sabbaticals
• Paid parental leave and family support benefits
• Retirement matching and employee equity
• Learning and development programs and professional growth opportunities
• Wellness and home office stipends
• Complimentary access to the Scribd suite of products
• Enterprise access to leading AI tools

Get to Know Scribd, Inc:

About Scribd, Inc

Life at Scribd, Inc.

We want our interview process to be accessible to everyone. You can inform us of any reasonable adjustments we can make to better accommodate your needs by emailing accommodations@scribd.com about the need for adjustments at any point in the interview process.

Scribd Inc. is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply, and believe that a diversity of perspectives and experiences create a foundation for the best ideas. Come join us in building something meaningful.